JP2016202733A - Portable terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable terminal that has low production cost and can measure information about a living body.SOLUTION: The portable terminal related to the present invention comprises: a camera; a light emission part; a light reception part; and a control part. The light emission part emits light for assisting photography of the camera. The light reception part outputs a signal with level according to intensity of the incident light. The control part creates information related to a living body by receiving the signal which is output from the light reception part. The light reception part and the light emission part are arranged in such a manner that the light emitted from the light emission part is reflected on the living body and is made incident on the light reception part while the portable terminal is mounted on the living body. The control part creates information related to the living body using the light emitted from the light emission part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile terminal, and more particularly to a mobile terminal capable of measuring information related to a living body.

  A portable terminal capable of measuring information related to a living body is known. Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2014-83122 (Patent Document 1) discloses a smartphone capable of measuring blood pressure.

JP 2014-83122 A

  A smartphone described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-83122 (Patent Document 1) irradiates a human body with infrared rays and calculates blood pressure from the reflected light. The smartphone includes a light-emitting element dedicated to blood pressure measurement that emits infrared light.

  Some portable terminals including a camera include a light emitting unit including a light source (for example, a white LED) that emits light for assisting photographing by the camera in the dark. The light emitted from the light emitting unit may include light necessary for measuring information about a living body (for example, heart rate). Therefore, if the light emitting unit is used, a dedicated light source for measuring information related to a living body can be eliminated.

  A main object of the present invention is to provide a mobile terminal capable of measuring information related to a living body with low manufacturing cost.

  A portable terminal according to the present invention includes a camera, a light emitting unit, a light receiving unit, and a control unit. The light emitting unit emits light for assisting photographing with the camera. The light receiving unit generates a signal having a level corresponding to the intensity of the incident light. A control part receives the signal output from a light-receiving part, and produces | generates the information relevant to a biological body. The light receiving unit and the light emitting unit are arranged so that light emitted from the light emitting unit in a state where the portable terminal is mounted on the living body is reflected by the living body and enters the light receiving unit. A control part produces | generates the information regarding a biological body using the light radiate | emitted from the light emission part.

  Preferably, when the mobile terminal is attached to a living body, the main surface of the mobile terminal that is in close contact with the surface of the living body is provided with an emission hole and an incident hole. The light emitting unit emits light to the outside through the emission hole. The light receiving unit receives light incident through the incident hole. The emission hole and the incident hole are arranged so as to be blocked by the surface of the living body when the portable terminal is mounted on the living body.

  Preferably, the light emitting unit emits light including the first light and the second light. The light receiving unit includes a first photosensor and a second photosensor. The first optical sensor generates a first signal having a level corresponding to the intensity of the incident first light. The second optical sensor generates a second signal having a level corresponding to the intensity of the incident second light. A control part produces | generates the information regarding a biological body based on a 1st signal and a 2nd signal.

  Preferably, a control part produces | generates the information regarding a biological body based on the difference of the level of a 1st signal, and the level of a 2nd signal.

Preferably, the first light is green light. The second light is red light.
Preferably, the light emitting unit includes a light emitting diode that emits white light.

  Preferably, the information related to the living body is a heart rate.

  According to the portable terminal according to the present invention, by using the light emitting unit for camera photographing to measure information related to a living body, a dedicated light emitting unit for measuring information related to the living body becomes unnecessary, and as a result, The manufacturing cost of the portable terminal can be reduced.

It is a figure which shows the mode of the user who is mounting | wearing with the smart phone which is a portable terminal according to embodiment on the right arm upper arm part, and is running. It is the front view (a) and back view (b) of the smart phone of FIG. It is III-III sectional drawing in FIG. It is a functional block diagram for demonstrating the function of the smart phone of FIG. It is a time chart which illustrates operation | movement of a control part.

  Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will not be repeated.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a state of a user who is running with a smartphone 1 that is a portable terminal according to an embodiment attached to the right arm. The smartphone 1 has a function of detecting a pulse wave and measuring a heart rate. Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, when the user swings his / her arm for running, the upper arm portion has a smaller swing width than the wrist. For this reason, there is little error due to body movement when detecting a pulse wave, and the upper arm can be said to be a part suitable for measuring a heart rate while running. FIG.1 (c) is the figure which looked at the user who is mounting | wearing with the smart phone 1 on the right arm upper arm part and is running from the top. With reference to FIG.1 (c), the smart phone 1 is closely_contact | adhered with a user's right hand upper arm part in the center part of the direction (henceforth "the width direction") orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of a back surface on the back surface.

  FIG. 2 is a front view (a) and a rear view (b) of the smartphone 1. Referring to FIG. 2 (a), on the front surface of the smartphone 1, a speaker 61 is provided at the upper part in the longitudinal direction, a microphone 62 is provided at the lower part in the longitudinal direction, and a display unit 40 and an input unit 50 are provided at the central part. Yes. The display unit 40 displays a heart rate and a graph showing a time change of the heart rate. With reference to FIG.2 (b), the reflected light from the human body of the camera 90, the exit hole 25 from which the light required in order to measure a heart rate is radiate | emitted on the back surface of the smart phone 1 injects. An incident hole 17 is provided. The exit hole 25 and the entrance hole 17 are respectively disposed in a region R0 (hereinafter also referred to as “center region”) from the center in the width direction on the back surface of the smartphone 1 to a position separated by a distance d in the width direction. . The ratio between the distance d and the width W of the back surface of the smartphone 1 is about a quarter. By setting the distance d to such a value, the emission hole 25 and the incident hole 17 are more easily blocked by the skin surface in a state where the smartphone 1 is worn on the human body.

  In order to measure the heart rate, it is necessary to emit light to the human body and to detect a pulse wave from the reflected light. Therefore, the smartphone 1 needs a light source for heart rate measurement. A smartphone 1 provided with a camera includes a light emitting unit including a white LED that emits light for assisting photographing with the camera in the dark. White light emitted from the white LED includes green light and red light necessary for measuring the heart rate. Therefore, by using the light emitting unit as a light source for heart rate measurement, a dedicated light source for measuring the heart rate can be eliminated.

  In this embodiment, a pulse wave of a human body is detected by using a light emitting unit that assists photographing with a camera, and a heart rate is measured.

  3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. With reference to FIG. 3, the smartphone 1 includes a light receiving unit 10, a light emitting unit 20, and an electronic circuit board 101 inside a housing 102. The electronic circuit board 101 is provided with a light receiving unit 10 and a light emitting unit 20.

  The light receiving unit 10 includes a silicon substrate 13, a G sensor 11, an R sensor 12, a light shielding wall 14, a lens 15, and a transparent plate 16. The silicon substrate 13 is provided on the electronic circuit substrate 101. The G sensor 11 and the R sensor 12 are formed on the silicon substrate 13. The light shielding wall 14 surrounds the G sensor 11 and the R sensor 12 and prevents light from other than the incident hole 17 from entering the light receiving unit 10. The lens 15 is provided in the light receiving direction of the light receiving unit 10. The transparent plate 16 is fixed to the incident hole 17.

  The light emitting unit 20 includes a white LED 21, a light shielding wall 22, a lens 23, and a transparent plate 24. The white LED 21 is provided on the electronic circuit board 101. The light shielding wall 22 surrounds the white LED 21 and prevents light emitted from the white LED 21 from directly entering the light receiving unit 10. The lens 23 is provided in the emission direction of the white LED 21. The transparent plate 24 is fixed to the emission hole 25.

  The heart rate is measured in a state where the surfaces of the transparent plates 16 and 24 are in close contact with the surface of the human body 500. In this state, the white light emitted from the white LED 21 passes through the lens 23 and the transparent plate 24 (emission hole 25) and is irradiated to the human body 500. Of the white light, the light α reflected in the body passes through the transparent plate 16 (incident hole 17) and the lens 15 and enters the G sensor 11 and the R sensor 12. A signal having a level corresponding to the intensity of green light in the light α is generated by the G sensor 11. A signal having a level corresponding to the intensity of red light in the light α is generated by the R sensor 12. The control unit 30 generates a signal including heart rate information based on the signal from the G sensor 11 and the signal from the R sensor 12.

  FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram for explaining functions of the smartphone 1 of FIG. With reference to FIG. 4, the smartphone 1 includes a light receiving unit 10, a camera 90, a light emitting unit 20 that assists photographing with the camera 90, a control unit 30, a display unit 40, an input unit 50, and an audio processing unit. 60, a speaker 61, a microphone 62, a communication unit 70, and a storage unit 80.

  Although not shown, the control unit 30 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) or DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) as storage elements, and can control the smartphone 1 in an integrated manner. The configuration related to the heart rate measurement performed by the control unit 30 will be described later.

  The storage unit 80 is an OS (Operating System) that is read and executed by the control unit 30, various software programs (for example, health management software), and various data (for example, heart rate time-series data) used by the programs. ) Can be saved. The storage unit 80 may include, for example, a ROM (Read Only Memory) that is a nonvolatile semiconductor memory, an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), a flash memory, or an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) that is a storage device.

  The input unit 50 can receive an input from the user and can transmit a signal based on the input to the control unit 30. The input unit 50 may be configured with buttons or a touch panel, for example.

  The display unit 40 can perform display based on the signal received from the control unit 30. The display unit 40 may be composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display, a plasma display, or an organic EL display.

  The communication unit 70 includes an antenna switch, a duplexer, a power amplifier, a low noise amplifier, and a band-pass filter, all of which are not shown. The communication unit 70 can perform communication in a communication carrier's communication network according to LTE (Long Term Evolution) or CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access). The communication unit 70 can process a signal received by the antenna and transmit the signal to the control unit 30. In addition, the control unit 30 can transmit a signal to the communication unit 70 and transmit a signal that has been signal-processed in the communication unit 70. Although not shown, the communication unit 70 includes a wireless LAN circuit and a wireless LAN antenna, and can communicate with a WiFi-compatible device such as a WiFi access point based on WiFi (registered trademark).

  The audio processing unit 60 can process the audio signal input to the microphone 62 and transmit it to the control unit 30. The audio processing unit 60 can output an audio signal to the speaker 61 based on the signal received from the control unit 30.

  The control unit 30 includes an amplifier, an AD (Analog-to-Digital) converter, and a high-pass filter, all of which are not shown. The control unit 30 converts the signal S1 from the G sensor 11 and the signal S2 from the R sensor 12 into digital signals, and generates a signal S4 including heart rate information based on the digital signals.

  The control unit 30 outputs a control signal S0 to the light emitting unit 20 in response to a measurement start instruction input from the input unit 50 by a user operation. The light emitting unit 20 emits light in response to the control signal S0 and emits white light to the human body. White light emitted from the light emitting unit 20 is reflected by the human body and enters the G sensor 11 and the R sensor 12. At this time, white light is absorbed by the skin, blood, etc., and the intensity of the reflected light varies according to the pulse wave and body movement of the human body. Specifically, the intensity of the green light included in the reflected light varies according to the pulse wave and body motion of the human body. The intensity of the red light contained in the reflected light varies according to the movement of the human body, but hardly varies according to the pulsation of the human body. In addition, the control unit 30 changes the control signal S0 alternately to the “H” level and the “L” level at a cycle sufficiently shorter than the cycle of the pulse wave to turn on and off the light emitting unit 20 at a predetermined cycle. Is desirable. By causing the light emitting unit 20 to emit light intermittently, the power consumption of the light emitting unit 20 can be suppressed.

  The G sensor 11 receives the light emitted from the light emitting unit 20 and reflected in the human body, and generates a signal S1 having a level corresponding to the intensity of the green light. The level (for example, voltage) of the signal S1 increases according to the light intensity of the incident green light. As described above, the level of the signal S1 changes according to the pulsation and body movement of the human body.

  The R sensor 12 receives the light emitted from the light emitting unit 20 and reflected in the human body, and generates a signal S2 having a level corresponding to the intensity of the red light. The level (for example, voltage) of the signal S2 increases according to the light intensity of the incident red light. As described above, the signal S2 changes according to the movement of the human body, but hardly changes according to the pulsation of the human body.

  The control unit 30 may amplify at least one of the signals S1 and S2 so that the amplitudes of the body motion components that change in the same cycle of the signals S1 and S2 are substantially the same. The control unit 30 generates a signal indicating a level difference between the signal S1 and a signal obtained by amplifying the signal S2, and obtains a human body pulse wave based on the signal indicating the level difference.

  FIGS. 5A and 5B are time charts illustrating the operation of the control unit 30. FIG. FIG. 5A illustrates the waveforms of the signals S1 and S2, and FIG. 5B illustrates the waveform of the signal S12 indicating the level difference between the signals S1 and S2. 5A and 5B, the signal S1 includes a body motion component that varies with a relatively long period and a large amplitude, and a pulse wave component that varies with a relatively short period and a small amplitude, and the signal S2 is a signal S1. Contains substantially the same body motion component. The signal S12 includes only the pulse wave component.

  Referring to FIG. 4 again, control unit 30 calculates the heart rate by counting the number of pulses per minute from signal S12, and outputs signal S4 including information related to the heart rate to display unit 40. . The display unit 40 displays characters, images, graphs, and the like indicating the heart rate in accordance with the signal S4 from the control unit 30.

  According to the smartphone 1, the heart rate can be measured by using the light from the light emitting unit 20 that assists the camera. Therefore, a dedicated light source for measuring the heart rate becomes unnecessary, and the manufacturing cost of the portable terminal can be reduced.

  In the smartphone 1, the exit hole 25 from which the light from the light emitting unit 20 is emitted and the incident hole 17 into which reflected light from the human body is incident are in contact with the skin surface of the human body when the smartphone 1 is attached to the human body. Located in the central area. For this reason, when the smartphone is attached to the upper arm, for example, the exit hole and the entrance hole are blocked by the skin surface, so that the light emitted from the white LED can be prevented from leaking to the outside and reflected from the human body. It can suppress that light other than light injects into a light-receiving part. As a result, the smartphone can measure the heart rate with high accuracy.

  A high-functional portable terminal such as a smartphone includes a high-performance CPU and a large-capacity storage area, and can execute software that performs complicated processing at high speed. The mobile terminal according to the embodiment can store data related to the measured human body and execute software that performs various processes based on the data at high speed. As a result, the user of the portable terminal can easily manage his / her health.

  In the above-described embodiment, the heart rate is measured as the information related to the living body, but the information related to the living body is not limited to the heart rate, and may be, for example, the blood oxygen saturation concentration.

  Needless to say, according to the smartphone which is a portable terminal according to the embodiment, information related to a living body including not only a human body but also a human and an animal can be measured.

  The embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Smart phone, 10 light-receiving part, 11 G sensor, 12 R sensor, 13 Silicon substrate, 14, 22 Light-shielding wall, 15, 23 Lens, 16, 24 Transparent plate, 17 Incidence hole, 20 Light emission part, 25 Outgoing hole, 30 Control Unit, 40 display unit, 50 input unit, 60 audio processing unit, 61 speaker, 62 microphone, 70 communication unit, 80 storage unit, 90 camera, 101 electronic circuit board, 102 housing, 500 human body, 21 white LED, R0 area , S0 control signal, S1, S2, S4, S12 signal, W width, d distance.

Claims (7)

A portable terminal comprising a camera and a light emitting unit that emits light for assisting photographing with the camera,
A light receiving unit that generates a signal of a level corresponding to the intensity of the incident light;
A control unit that receives a signal output from the light receiving unit and generates information related to the living body;
The light receiving unit and the light emitting unit are arranged so that light emitted from the light emitting unit in a state where the portable terminal is attached to a living body is reflected by the living body and is incident on the light receiving unit,
The said control part is a portable terminal which produces | generates the information regarding a biological body using the light radiate | emitted from the said light emission part. When the portable terminal is attached to a living body, the main surface of the portable terminal that is in close contact with the surface of the living body is provided with an emission hole and an incident hole,
The light emitting unit emits light to the outside through the emission hole,
The light receiving unit receives light incident through the incident hole,
The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the emission hole and the incident hole are disposed so as to be blocked by a surface of the living body when the portable terminal is mounted on the living body. The light emitting unit emits light including first light and second light,
The light receiving unit includes a first photosensor and a second photosensor,
The first optical sensor generates a first signal having a level corresponding to an intensity of the incident first light;
The second photosensor generates a second signal having a level corresponding to the intensity of the incident second light,
The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the control unit generates information related to the living body based on the first signal and the second signal.   The mobile terminal according to claim 3, wherein the control unit generates information related to the living body based on a difference between a level of the first signal and a level of the second signal. The first light is green light;
The mobile terminal according to claim 3, wherein the second light is red light.   The mobile terminal according to claim 5, wherein the light emitting unit includes a light emitting diode that emits white light.   The mobile terminal according to claim 3, wherein the information related to the living body is a heart rate.

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